Recognitions
Christie Hodgen (English) has learned that her most recent novel, Elegies for the Brokenhearted W.W. Norton & Company (2010), won the 2011 Friends of American Writers Literature Award. For more on the award, see:
Felicia Londré, (Curators’ Professor of Theatre) was awarded the 2011 Betty Jean Jones Award for Outstanding Teacher of American Theatre and Drama, given by the American Theatre and Drama Society. The award was presented by James Fisher, vice-president of ATDS and chair of Theatre at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. The presentation took place at the Palmer House in Chicago, at the annual convention of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, where ten years ago she received the ATHE 2001 award for Outstanding Teacher of Theatre in Higher Education. See:
Judy Ancel (Economics) reports that The International Labor Communications Association has awarded First Prize for radio programs in its 2011 Awards to The Institute for Labor Studies for its weekly radio show The Heartland Labor Forum. The winning show was called “The Last Overhaul: The American Airlines/TWA Shutdown – Honoring a Noble Union.” The show was produced on September 9, 2010 by ILS Director Judy Ancel and Heartland Labor Forum volunteer Jeff Humfeld, a member of the Carpenters Union. To listen to the show, go to
The Heartland Labor Forum airs weekly on Thursdays from 6-7pm on KKFI 90.1FM Kansas City Community Radio.
Mike English (Visiting Research Professor, Economics) was given “The Rising Star Award” by the Council for Economic Education at its recent 50th Annual Financial Literacy and Economic Education Conference. They write that: “The Rising Star Award recognizes an individual who has served the network for seven years or less and “hit the ground running” by making extraordinary contributions to economic education programs early in his or her career.” Mike serves as President and CEO of the Missouri Council on Economic Education. See
Diane Mutti-Burke (History) learned that her book, On Slavery’s Border: Missouri’s Small Slaveholding Households, 1815-1865 was named the Best Book of the Year by the State Historical Society of Missouri at the 53rd annual Missouri Conference on History was held in Kansas City, April 14-15.
New Letters on the Air was selected as a national winner of the 2011 Clarion Awards form the Association for Women in Communications at its national conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma on October 14, 2011. The award winning entry was by producer/host Angela Elam and featured readings from When She named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by American Women, edited by Andrea Hollander Budy. For more see:
We also have learned that the literature panel and staff for the Missouri Arts Council has again given New Letters the highest rating of any literary organization or publication in the state of Missouri. As part of its grant-award process, the Missouri Arts Council rates literary organizations on the basis of (1) artistic excellence, (2) community involvement, and (3) management ability. New Letters alone received a rating of a perfect 10, representing the quarterly journal and its weekly radio broadcast series.